■ Dongguk University Debuts 120th-Anniversary Concert
“Composed while reading books about Seo Jeong-ju
Sung by Yoo Yeol, who overcame illness
Rather than trying to craft a melody,
I transcribed the emotions I felt from the poems into the score”
“Composed while reading books about Seo Jeong-ju
Sung by Yoo Yeol, who overcame illness
Rather than trying to craft a melody,
I transcribed the emotions I felt from the poems into the score”
“I’m saddened that our art songs have been neglected. I hope this concert fully showcases their appeal and inspires a renewed love for them.” Actor Kang Seok-woo (pictured above) told Munhwa Ilbo in an interview on the 21st that he’s excited about “Mokmyeok (木覓): Night of Art Songs,” set for the 30th at the National Theater’s Haeorum Theater to mark Dongguk University’s 120th anniversary. Mokmyeoksan is the old name for Namsan, which encircles the Dongguk campus. The program will reintroduce poems by Dongguk alumni such as Han Yong-un, Seo Jeong-ju, and Moon Jeong-hee as art songs.
A longtime champion of classical music, Kang will host and provide commentary for the concert, and he also contributed compositions. After serving as a DJ on CBS Music FM’s “To the Beautiful You,” he now offers program notes for the Seoul Arts Center’s “11 a.m. Concert,” maintaining a steady presence in the classical scene. He composes as well — he’s written 12 art songs including “In the April Forest,” “My Heart Is a Waltz,” and “In the Garden of Time.”
Kang said he initiated and planned the school concert. “Without a music school, students here have fewer opportunities to encounter music. Yet many alumni poems have become lyrics for art songs. I suggested the idea to President Yoon Jae-woong last year, thinking we could create a meaningful program, and the university decided to include it in the 120th-anniversary events. It may be the first concert of its kind in Dongguk’s history.”
President Yoon, a devoted student of Midang (Seo Jeong-ju), worked closely with Kang and provided strong support. The concert will present beloved Korean art songs set to poems by Dongguk alumni: “Love” (Han Yong-un), “A Waiting Heart” (Kim Min-bu), “At This Point” (Shin Kyung-rim), and “Song of Blessing” (Moon Jeong-hee). Midang’s “The Way I Love You” and other poems will be performed as settings by composers Choi Jin and Lee Woong. Kang composed a new setting of the well-known “Beside the Chrysanthemum,” and soloists including sopranos Kang Hye-jung and Kim Sun-young and baritones Song Ki-chang and Lee Eung-gwang will join the program.
Kang said he agonized over composing “Beside the Chrysanthemum.” He read President Yoon’s book about the poet’s hometown, Jilmajae in Gochang, North Jeolla Province. “I didn’t force a tune. As I read the poems, natural rhythms surfaced, and I notated those cadences. Because the poem is so beloved, I felt the pressure, but I tried to capture the atmosphere of the 1940s through the 1960s.” The piece is given extra resonance by singer Yoo Yeol, who returns to the stage after a long battle with pulmonary fibrosis. Kang said he invited Yoo Yeol because he believed the performance would be deeply moving; Yoo Yeol accepted gladly. Kang’s devotion to art songs has led him to release his own works and tour nationwide to promote their beauty. While hosting radio, he ran a daily segment introducing Korean art songs. “In art songs, the poem — the lyrics — matter more than the music. As poetry has receded from everyday life, public speech has grown coarser. Too many blunt, sensational expressions dominate. Young people are missing out on metaphor and condensed poetic language.” He said he hopes for a return to a time when art songs were part of daily life. “In the past, schools taught art songs in music class and television played them regularly. I hope they become widely sung again; their refined diction can help cleanse our language.”
Kang is currently on a cruise in Italy with his wife. Toward the end of the phone interview, he recalled a thought that came to him as they passed Sorrento the day before. “A single song like ‘Torna a Surriento’ can come to symbolize a city and draw people from around the world. I hope our art songs someday travel as far as German or Italian lieder.”
Meanwhile, to mark the 70th anniversary of the publication of Midang’s third poetry collection, Selections of Seo Jeong-ju, Dongguk’s Midang Research Institute and the Hwan-ki Museum have produced an illustrated volume, Beside the Chrysanthemum: With Paintings (Eunhaengnamu Publishing). The book pairs 46 of Midang’s poems, including “Beside the Chrysanthemum,” with 43 paintings by artist Kim Hwan-ki.
